Airports, I-10 corridor among noisiest areas of the Coachella Valley

The Department of Transportation (DOT) released a map measuring transportation related noises in the country and to not much surprise, areas close to airports and freeways had the highest amount. According to the DOT, about 97 percent of Americans has the potential to be exposed to noise from aviation and Interstate highways at levels below 50 decibels or roughly comparable to the noise level of a humming refrigerator. In the Coachella Valley, the noisiest areas were concentrated along the corridor of the Interstate 10, Palm Springs International Airport and Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal. The trend is similar in other nearby areas such as San Diego and Los Angeles with their respective freeways and airports exhibiting the results on a much larger scale. The DOT said the purpose of the noise map is to facilitate the tracking of trends in transportation-related noise and provide a national picture of its impact. The DOT’s interactive map can be found here.